Massacre of Nigerian students described

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MUBI, Nigeria, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Terrorists ordered students to line up and state their names, then began to kill them, a school lecturer in Mubi, Nigeria, said of events earlier this week.

The Federal Polytechnic lecturer described what happened for about 90 minutes late Monday when 46 students, apparently enrolled in three post-secondary schools in the area, were either shot or stabbed to death, the Nigerian newspaper Leadership reported Wednesday.

The lecturer, speaking under condition of anonymity, said the killings occurred indiscriminately and without an apparent reason why some students were killed and others spared.

"Some were killed with bullet shots while others were stabbed and their bodies lined up in rows openly outside," the source said.

Leadership said it confirmed that the attackers stormed the student village of the Adamawa State University, Federal Polytechnic and the School of Health Technology, all in Mubi.

An information official at the Federal Polytechnic confirmed 26 of its students were among those killed in the attack. Leadership said at least 40 bodies, mostly students, were discovered in the Wuro-Fatuji area where the schools' student living quarters are.

Security agencies, including the army, police and state security service traveled to Mubi to assess the situation, Leadership said.

One Mubi resident said officials had relaxed a 24-hour curfew, which may have allowed terrorists to execute their plan, Leadership said.

A Joint Task Force raid in Mubi last week was meant to flush out suspected terrorists, Brig. Gen. John Nwagoa said.

"Based on intelligence report, a combined team of the JTF isolated the area, cordoned it and made sure that innocent and law-abiding citizens were not hurt," Nwaoga said.

Two weeks ago, officials discovered a Boko Haram hideout and a bomb factory. Boko Haram militants want to impose Shariah law throughout Nigeria.